President John Adams asks James McHenry to offer George Washington the commission of Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-chief of the U.S. armies. Adams also seeks Washington's advice in the formation of a list of officers, wishing to have his opinion on the man most suitable for Inspector-General, Adjutant-General, and Quartermaster-General.

A letter from Lt. General George Washington indicates that his expenses exceed the pay and emoluments provided for his recent journey from Mt. Vernon to Philadelphia and returning. It will therefore be necessary to reimburse those expenses and transmit them to the General in in the next day's post.

Lear assures Hamilton that he shall deal with General Washington's papers with the utmost care and discretion with the most sacred of them being delivered to Judge Washington. He asks if any of Washington's recent military papers need to be sent to Hamilton or someone else in the military.

Certification of payments; Tobias Lear, Secretary to Commander in Chief, Lieutenant General George Washington, the sum of $359.28, being for his pay and subsistence and forage from the 1st of September, the date of his appointment, to 30 November, 1798.

Asks that McHenry inform George Washington that he is considered fully in the public service, may appoint aides and secretaries as he sees fit, and may draw upon pay and rations. Asks that General Knox be called into service if Washington believes it proper to do so. Considers whom shall rank whom among general officers, the order being Washington, Knox, Pinckney, and Hamilton. Authorizes...

"I received your letter of the 18th instant yesterday. You refer me to enclosed letters for information on the subject therein mentioned. One letter only came, and that under a seal to General Lee which I shall forward, unopened, tomorrow by my nephew, Mr. Bushrod Washington, who is a neighbor of his.

Lt. Col. William S. Smith discusses his plans for a monument to the memory of General Washington, with an inscription of a poem penned by him the previous night: "Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious George Washington, General of the Armies of the United States of America, Who paid the Great Debt of Nature, The 14th. of December, 1799. To Commemorate his virtues. To hand down to Posterity,...